1. Field of the Invention
The Present Invention relates in general to networked computing systems, and more particularly, to a system for managing electronic records.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication by Electronic Mail (E-mail) is a fast and convenient form of communication in the workplace. It is universally transforming the way organizations—such as corporations, partnerships, LLCs, etc.—communicate, and is rapidly spawning court cases regarding workplace privacy and monitoring, intellectual property, network security, electronic commerce, freedom of expression, harassment and safety.
Electronically-stored data, such as e-mail, is often sought by opposing parties in litigation and by criminal justice authorities, since, in many cases, it may be the only record of a conversation or transaction. For purposes of evidence, both State and Federal Courts have concluded that e-mail is a special form of a computer record and can be considered an official “record” of an organization. Consequently, e-mail is rapidly becoming a critical information source in litigation. Recent cases have found “smoking guns” in old e-mail and early drafts of organizational documents. The early documents may not be binding, but may sometimes be used to establish intent on behalf of the organization, as well as the mind set of the author at the time the document was created.
Nevertheless, many organizations have no means by which to manage their e-mail. E-mail is a record. Most organizations, further, do not have in place a system to index their e-mail messages with other client-related documents. Finally, many organizations do not have a system to record, store and purge e-mail messages in the same manner as they manage their traditional records. Consequently, the lack of such systems are creating enormous risks for these organizations, and subjecting the organizations to liability.
Additionally, most organizations have no control over, and in some cases, do not have a record of, any documents sent as e-mail attachments to outside computer systems (and organizations). Employees often view e-mail as the equivalent to a private conversation. Furthermore, statements made in e-mails may or may not reflect the official position of the organization. Rather, these statements reflect preliminary thoughts or ideas that have not been reviewed by the organization, and typically only reflect the personal opinion of the parties involved. Yet, since employees of the organization create these communications, Court and Regulatory Agencies may conclude these records reflect the official view of the organization. In addition, personal e-mail messages created by employees may not be the type of e-mail messages an organization may wish to record and retain in their records management system. Currently, there is no system to separate personal e-mail from business e-mail.
Most organizations have not yet determined the records retention periods and procedures for e-mail, and have not established procedures to delete e-mail from back-up systems. Information System (IS) Managers (or Information Technology (IT) persons) generally develop elaborate procedures to backup and preserve e-mail records for many years. Some IS and IT persons believe that information should be baked-up, or saved, for long periods of time, believing that “longer is better.” Even with short back-up cycles, messages may still be maintained due to poor procedures for erasing or recycling the various back-up systems. Further, even when back-up systems have been erased, overwritten or damaged, experts using sophisticated techniques may still be able to recover the information for litigation.
The concept of e-mail is still new enough that organizations who want to establish their own guidelines do so “on their own” or “a their own risk,” since no industry standard currently exists.
Therefore, there is a need for an electronic records management system to track, sort, index, manage, authenticate, purge and store e-mail messages, along with other documents, in a database to insure that the e-mail messages retained in the database may be the e-mail messages an organization chooses to retain as their official records versus unorganized messages that may have the potential to create a liability for the organization. There is a further need for an electronic records management system that grants the senders and receivers of e-mail messages greater control over how their e-mail messages may be sent, received, tracked and purged.